“…if I ever hear somebody say something’s impossible or extremely difficult, almost impossible, it’s a challenge and I always try to do it.”
Lawrence (Larry) Tesler
We often overlook everyday items or concepts that help us save time, prevent frustration, and improve our lives. We take their origins for granted. These are the stories and lessons about the unsung heroes of daily life’s practical tools and concepts that have pushed society ahead just a little bit (or a lot) further.
“He can be hailed as one of the true pioneers of many important aspects of personal computing.” (Alan Kay)
A recent example of an unfamiliar founder is the life and lessons of Lawrence Tesler (1945 – 2020), who developed something that has saved almost all of us countless hours: cut, copy, and paste on computers. What would our daily routine would be like if we could not simply cut/copy and paste text while writing reports, emails, blog posts, tweets, etc.?
Mr. Tesler’s name is unlikely to be known by the wider public, but anyone who uses a computer can experience the impact of his contributions. He worked at a number of the most important technology firms in Silicon Valley, including at Apple and Xerox. While at Xerox (in the Palo Alto Research Center) in the 1970s, he helped develop the graphical desktop schema and mouse interaction with computers that ubiquitous today. Mr. Tesler and another researcher (Tim Mott) developed a program known as Gypsy, which scuttled the old restrictive “modes” that made text editing cumbersome. Before Gypsy, one had to use one mode for entering text and one for editing it. That sounds frustrating just thinking about it (imagine if we still had to function that way when writing). This is what life would have been like if Mr. Tesler and other didn’t resist the status quo:
“And so if you were in command mode and not typing mode, ‘E’ would select the entire document. And then when you typed the ‘D’ in edit [mode] it would delete the whole document. Then when you typed ‘I’ it would insert— go into insert mode, when you typed ‘T’ it would insert the ‘T’, and then you’d look at the screen and all you’d have is a ‘T’, and there was an “undo” but it only went back one step so you lost your whole document unless you’d saved it.” (Lawrence “Larry” Tesler)
Mr. Tesler was also prescient in his use of early usability research methods and user-centric design. In developing Gypsy, he would take a newly hired secretary and have her describe preferences for using a computer to compose documents. The simple system that she described served as the inspiration for the system that he and Mr. Mott developed.
He was passionate about making computer interactions as “user-friendly” as possible for the general public (not just computer scientists), a crusader against modes of operating and switching, and an early recognizer of the trend toward low-cost computing systems. Mr. Tesler is considered the originator of the term “user-friendly” and the concept that computers should be “friendly.” From the early days of punch card computers, he would find little ways to make things easier—working with art students to simplify animation frames or streamlining the process for different departments to prepare the coding on the mainframe. He was also credited with using the term “browser” and the more esoteric use of “what you see is what you get” in printing.
Interestingly, Mr. Tesler was also the person responsible for the single mouse button that is an Apple standard, the concept of clicking on a file to open it (instead of the standard at the time of having to type file names), testing a “portable” computer at an airport and in flight (possibly the first instance of this), and had an early hand in the Newton handheld computer and chip architecture that is the standard for microprocessors today. And, he was the one who demonstrated Xerox’s Alto computer and Smalltalk system to Steve Jobs, which influenced the design of the early Apple systems and eventually the Macintosh.
In addition to his professional exploits, it seems Mr. Tesler had several influences, chance happenings, and colorful meandering paths. While in high school, he displayed an impressive knack for numbers (developing a new approach to generating prime numbers). A teacher suggested he look into programming, and another student (who happened to be Paul Schneck, the future head of on-flight electronics and software for the space shuttle!) happened to tell him about a program at Columbia that allowed for access to a computer. He went on to Stanford to gain a degree in mathematics, while also being fortunate enough to program as a student for a Nobel Laureate (Joshua Lederberg) on a system invented by Wesley A. Clark which many believe was the first true personal computer. He also spent time on a commune, teaching at an alternative school, pursuing activism in various forms, and wearing the occasional trench coat and fedora meetings with the CIA.
Life lessons learned
- Keep it simple. Mr. Tesler was focused on simplifying computer interactions throughout his career.
- Persistently look for ways to improve even the simplest things. Instead of just mode-switching or typing in long file names because that’s what everyone else does, Mr. Tesler looked for ways to improve these functions (not just for himself, but for everyone else). Most people just assumed mode switching was a necessary evil for access to computers, but Mr. Tesler didn’t accept that and found ways to improve the interactions. “If I ever hear somebody say something’s impossible or extremely difficult, almost impossible, it’s a challenge and I always try to do it.” (Lawrence Tesler, 2013 interview at https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102746675)
- Listen to advice and pursue leads. A high school teacher and another student gave Mr. Tesler advice that set him on his trajectory. In addition, several peers at Stanford helped him with access to the computers there. There is an element of luck that he was there and had this circle of really sharp fellow students (future rocket scientists, theoreticians, computer scientists), but there is also the desire to listen and hard work to pursue it that complemented these chance encounters.
- Gather insight from everyone. Mr. Tesler’s use of a new secretary to share her views on a preferred system gave him the insights to develop the much simplified interface that became the standard.
- Be colorful. It’s probably no coincidence that Mr. Tesler’s rather alternative paths through life (e.g., commune living, activist adventures) seemed to also allow him to break away from the dogmatic computing mores of the day. He saw things differently and was not scared to express those colors of expression. He also kept a counterculture leaning and was credited with combining “computer science training with a counterculture vision that computers should be for everyone.” (Computer History Museum, quoted in https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51567695)
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/technology/lawrence-tesler-dead.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Tesler
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51567695
https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102746675
https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2014/08/102746675-05-01-acc.pdf
